Lessons in leaving
by crankyXwhenXprovoked
Summary: There are lots of things Ellis can deal with.  What happens when Nick does one he just can't anymore


The bright head lights of the cab shown down on the dark street in front of the car as it drove down the slightly curvy road. Warm air blew from the vents, warming the fingers of the driver as she moved down the street at about 5:30. The blue eyes of the cab driver flickered over the houses that she was passing by, looking for the right address. As she drove on the houses were starting to get a bit more fancy and more than likely, very expensive. Getting near where the house should be, she slowed to a roll. Upon finding the house, she turned the lights off and pulled up into the drive way. Normally she would have left them on but the person that called for the cab had asked specifically that they be left off.

It didn't take long for the front door of the, particularly nice, house to open and a male to step out. In his hands he had three bigger suitcases and a messenger bag over his one shoulder. Moving out of the way of the door, he shut it and looked back for less that a second then moved to the cab. Heading to the back of the car, the driver popped the trunk as the male put the bags in and then got in the back.

"Morning," She said as the male closed the door.

"Mornin' ma'am," His southern voice said.

Pulling back out of the driveway she waited till about a house away before turning on the head lights.

"Where are we heading, sir?"

"Call me Ellis please,"

"Ok Ellis, I'm Kriss,"

"Please to meet you,"

"Same, now where are we going?" She asked.

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to go to the train station,"

She was a little shocked at the request. "You know that's about a four hour drive right?"

"I know and if ya can't,"

"Oh it's nothing like that Ellis, it's just most people don't like to be stuck in a cab for that long,"

"Ah don't have a problem with it,"

"Ok, then to the train station it is, may I ask why there not the airport?"

There was a bit of silence then his voice came from the back again. "I'm leaving my boyfriend,"

"Oh, I'm sorry,"

"It's ok," Ellis let out a yawn.

"You can take a nap if you like, its going to be a long drive,"

"I don't have to talk if you're uncomfortable with that,"

"No, No it's nothing like that, I just figured you'd like to sleep since it is before six,"

"Oh,"

There was silence that fell over the car again as she drove on, getting on the freeway and heading towards their destination.

"It was his cheating that pushed me to do it," Ellis's rough southern voice came from the back.

The car swerved a bit as she jumped, but quickly righted herself as a small chuckle came from the back.

"Did I scare you?"

"A little, I thought you actually had fallen asleep,"

"Nah, just thinking,"

"Care to share? It's not like I don't have time for a story,"

Looking in the rearview mirror, she saw the male smile and take off the trucker cap he was wearing.

"It's kind of a long one and doesn't have a happy ending,"

"I've always been one for a good tear jerker,"

Ellis was quiet for another few minutes as he got his thoughts in order.

"Well as I said, it was the cheating that pushed me away from Nick, that's his name,"

"Ok,"

As she drove on he started telling the story near slipping into a daze as he told it.

As the four people fought their way through the hordes of zombies they all developed a bond. For the two younger males that bond went beyond just a friend ship and they first became something of friends with benefits. Nick was the one that wanted it that way since he couldn't say that he ever wanted to be in a relationship with a male. Soon enough though, even he couldn't argue that they were dating. When they got to the Ceda camps, Ellis was sure Nick would leave him high and dry. But he didn't.

After the military got the country cleaned up the gambler shocked Ellis even more when he asked him to move in with him. Since the older male was able to get his money that he had before the apocalypse, they were able to move to a nice little house in Vegas.

At first things had been beyond great as they were happy. Ellis had gotten a part time job at an auto shop and Nick went back to gambling. Normally Ellis thought gambling was a waste of time and money, but since Nick brought home lots every night, he didn't mind.

He also didn't mind the late nights that he came home or when he smelled heavily of booze. Ellis didn't mind any of that at all.

It was when he came home one night, drunk off his ass, with lipstick on his collar. Ellis had helped him into bed after stripping him. That night he gave his boyfriend the benefit of the doubt, blaming it on the drinks.

When he came home about a week later sober and Ellis smelt perfume that was heavy on him, he couldn't play dumb anymore.

It was after that night Ellis could barely look at Nick the same anymore. At first it was about once a week that Nick came home either smelling like a cheap whore or with the lipstick on his neck. As it went on it became twice a week, then three, when Ellis made the decision to leave, it was every day.

The southern male knew he should have left a long time ago but his love for the other male was much too strong. He tried time and time again to bring it up with Nick, but the male knew how to get out of spots. Most of them included hitting Ellis's hot spots and getting him into bed, completely forgetting about the topic for a while.

On this night Nick had come home drunk off his ass again, with a hickey on the side of his neck. Ellis's heart was shattered and he knew what he had to do.

Packing his bags was one of the hardest things he ever had to do as the male slumbered on the bed. More than once he nearly put his stuff back and just laid down, but the sight of that ugly bruise pushed him on. Writing Nick the good bye note was the hardest thing he ever had to do.

There were ore that just a few mess up's on the paper since his hands were shaking so bad. He got through it and left it on the kitchen counter for the male to find in the morning when he finally got up.

Calling the cab and requesting the driver pull up with out the headlights was so the sleeping male didn't wake up. Ellis didn't want him to since he knew if Nick had begged, hell just asked him to stay. He would have in a heart beat.

His bags were by the door as he said his final good bye to his, soon to be ex, lover. As he looked down at Nick, torn but there was no turning back, he just couldn't. Leaning down he had pressed his lips to Nicks one last time.

Hearing the cab pull up he had brushed away the tears that had formed and headed out of their bedroom and out of their house for the last time.

As his story came to and end Ellis kind of shook his head, wiping away the tears that had reformed.

"Kinda stupid huh? Staying that long?"

"I don't think so, when you love someone that much you hope and pray that they are going to change and you can stay with them forever, at least you had the guts to leave,"

"You sound like you have some experience with that," Ellis said.

"Just a little,"

Ellis let out a small, humorless, laugh and another yawn.

"I think I'm going to take that nap now, if'in you don't mind,"

"Not at all Ellis, I'll wake you when we get there,"

"Thank you kindly," Ellis said as he shut his eyes and fell asleep, hoping things looked better when he woke up.

~*~*~*~*~Author's Note~*~*~*~*~

Well this was sad to write.

I had started this story about a year or so ago (in a note book) and lost it, but suddenly got the idea for it again.

The idea originally came from: When I had a job, first just taking him to school, then later babysitting him, I had to leave my house at like 5:30. Well on more than a few mornings, (still pitch black and I would drive on a curvy road everyday) there was a house that had a cab sitting in the drive way. It was running but didn't have the headlights on and hence, this was born.

Valve owns the boys.

I own the cab driver.


End file.
